Have a Haunted Night's Sleep!
by Jazzola
Summary: Visiting a brand new attraction park may not turn out to be the relaxing holiday the gang had hoped for... Rated T to be safe, part of my series- best read in order!
1. Chapter 1

"What a great place for a vacation!" Daphne sighed as the Mystery Machine pulled into a petrol station. "The new amusement and rollercoaster park, Devil's Wheels!"

Next to her, Velma smiled. "I guess… I'm more looking forward to the Science Museum part. I mean, you can actually see what a tachyon accelerator does, I can't wait…"

Daphne gave up on her and turned to Fred.

"You'll be going on the proper rides, right, Freddy? I might get scared otherwise!"

Fred smiled.

"Scared? You? Since when?"

Daphne pinched him lightly and turned round.

"Shaggy, Scooby? Well, I guess, maybe not Scooby so much… Velma, did you check whether they allow dogs on rides?"

Scooby turned round.

"Rog? Rere?"

Daphne laughed and turned to face the front again. Within a few minutes, the van was outside the arch which proclaimed the entrance to the Devil's Wheels Amusement Park.

Fred wound down his window as the van approached an admission kiosk with a bored-looking teenage boy in it.

"Hi?"

The boy grinned as he saw the paint job.

"Nice van," he said, ducking down to retrieve some tickets from under the window.

"There're four of you?"

"Um, do dogs need tickets?"

The boy craned his neck to get a better look inside the van, and saw Scooby, who gave him a big grin. The boy grinned back and nodded.

"Yeah, they need dog tickets."

"Rog rickets?"

"Yeah, like, you heard him, Scoob."

"And are dogs allowed on rides?" Fred asked as he took the tickets and handed over the gang's credit card, which was the one they used for their finances, rather than singling one member of the gang out to be responsible for it.

"Not really," the boy replied, swiping the card and handing it back. "Oh, and which hotel are you staying in?"

"The Alohomora," Fred replied, checking the booking papers in the glove box. "Why?"

The boy gulped.

"There've been some strange things happening over at the Alohomora," he replied, looking nervously at the gang. "People have been saying it's haunted, that their things keep disappearing, their rooms ransacked and no trace of anyone, the doors still locked from the inside!"

Shaggy gulped from the back, sounding like the boy.

"Like, it's h-h-h-_haunted_?"

"Of course, it's only what I hear from the guests and the other staff members, but maybe you might want to think about swapping and staying in another hotel…"

The boy pressed a button under the window and the barrier in front of the Mystery Machine lifted, allowing the van through. Fred drove through in silence, but Daphne was talking loudly.

"Another case! Well, maybe… Still, we haven't had one in a while; this might be the break we're looking for! Maybe we could pay off that restaurant the guys ate at yesterday…"

Shaggy and Scooby had the grace to look guilty.

"Well, erm, like, that wasn't quite our fault… OK, like, it was…"

Daphne giggled and looked back at the driver.

"Freddy, you want to get this case, right?"

Fred sighed.

"I guess it would be good, if we had a case now, but I sort of wanted a peaceful, spook-free vacation for once."

"Well, it would be good for our finances," Velma said, thinking it over, "like Daphne said. After this, I don't think we could afford many more excursions for a while if we didn't somehow get money."

Daphne smiled. "You know, my dad is always willing to chip in and give us some money, guys."

Fred nodded, trying to make up for his seeming lack of enthusiasm. "Yeah, I guess, but this is a proper business now, plus only one member of this gang is actually a part of the Blake family."

Daphne shook her head. "To be honest, I think he thinks of us all as his kids in a way. We grew up together and everything, and he always wanted more than one kid, but Mom said no, so he couldn't. We always met up at my place, and our office is in the basement; somehow, I don't think Dad thinks that way, Freddy. Plus, he has a stake in the company."

"Steak?" Shaggy asked, looking in from the back.

"Sorry, Shaggy, it's just a figure of speech!"

"Aw, man…"

Shaggy sighed. Behind him, Scooby gave a little whine and mimed being completely famished, despite the fact that on the five-hour trip to Devil's Wheels, he and Shaggy had cleaned out the steamer trunk holding the gang's food for the journey.

"You guys can get some food at the hotel, there's a cafeteria," Fred said, looking back in the rear-view mirror. Shaggy looked over with sudden hope in his eyes.

"Like, a cafeteria?"

"Yes, a cafeteria."

Shaggy and Scooby looked over at each other, both seeing the delight of the word "cafeteria" etched in the other's eyes. Daphne and Velma glanced over at each other and stifled giggles; Fred rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, back to the conversation," Velma said, once the giggles had subsided. "A new case now would do wonders for our finances, and we can't really afford to turn it down if there is a case. I say we find out about it, and go from there."

Fred and Daphne nodded agreement.

"Shaggy? Scooby?"

"Like, a new case?"

Scooby lay down on the floor of the van, and started whimpering. Shaggy did the same.

"Like, bye-bye peaceful vacation, hello new mystery…"


	2. Chapter 2

The Alohomora Hotel was a large, modern-looking building, with large Art Deco windows and stained glass overlooking the reception room. It seemed the last place a ghost would want to strike.

"You're in 180, which is a five-person suite, as you asked for," the perky-looking clerk said, handing over a set of keys and smiling. "Sorry to be nosy, but why a five-person suite? There're only four of you."

Fred grinned.

"And our dog…"

Scooby leapt up onto his back paws and looked over the counter at the clerk, his tongue a little out and his grin on his face. The clerk laughed and reached out to stroke Scooby's head, which he enjoyed until Shaggy pulled him away.

"Like, Scooby! C'mon, boy…"

The clerk laughed again as Scooby walked dejectedly after Shaggy.

Room 180 was a large room with a cloth screen dividing the two halves of the room, one with three beds in it, one with two. The members picked out their beds and put suitcases next to them before heading down to the cafeteria (Shaggy and Scooby) and heading down to find some more on this prospective case (Fred, Daphne and Velma).

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I hope they're not too annoying! Jazzola


	3. Chapter 3

"Like, pecan pie- yum, Scoob, pecan pie! -and a salad bowl, and club sandwiches, and Victoria sponge…"

The pair started devouring most of the food in the cafeteria as the others started quizzing the clerk, Emily, about the reports of ghosts and spooks in the hotel.

"Well, that's why we're so empty," Emily said, sitting on the side of the desk and looking out through the stained glass. "We kept getting guests coming down, saying they were going to go to another hotel, saying how their rooms had been invaded by this spook!"

"What does the spook do?" Velma asked.

"I think it's some sort of poltergeist, because it goes through people's belongings, ransacking their rooms, and though they report very few things missing they are totally freaked out by the whole thing. It's so bad for business!"

Emily sighed and traced a cut on the back of her hand with a forefinger.

"That's a bad cut, Emily," Daphne commented, looking down at it. The skin was torn cleanly, as though by a knife. "How did that happen?"

"I was working in the cafeteria, and I sliced my hand…"

Emily shrugged and shook her hand.

"You think you can do something about this ghost, is that why you're asking me about it?"

Velma nodded. Emily shrugged again and looked back out towards the stained-glass figures on the front of the hotel.

"If you want, but I strongly advise you not to. I don't think the ghost would like it- some people who stayed here a few days ago rigged a trap for it, but it didn't work and the ghost was especially bad for them. I really would say, if you don't want to stay here transfer to another hotel, and stay out of the way of this phantom or whatever it is. I think it's dangerous."

Velma nodded again.

"We'll bear that in mind. Thanks, Emily."

The threesome turned to leave and see if there was anything left to eat in the cafeteria, or if they'd have to go to a restaurant for their food.


	4. Chapter 4

Half an hour later and three members of Mystery Inc. were sitting at a table in a restaurant eating- the other two were sulking at the side of the table. As Fred had pointed out, if those two had been allowed to order something, even just a small thing, it would have turned into half the menu being ordered, then the other half too.

"Emily's pretty keen for us not to go ghost-hunting," Velma commented, munching on a mouthful of chicken. "I wonder if she might know more than we think she knows."

Fred shook his head, his knife and fork hovering over his plate.

"Well, if she knew more, she would probably have told us a bit more. No, she seemed pretty innocent to me."

Velma looked sideways at him and he flicked a chunk of chicken at her that had fallen off her plate.

"Don't even go there, Velma!"

Next to him, Daphne choked on her chickpea risotto. Fred leaned over and banged her on the back, and she swallowed and smiled.

"Sorry! Thanks, Freddy," she added, her cheeks a slightly luminous shade of scarlet.

Velma rolled her eyes and diverted everyone back to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, a young waitress had walked over to Shaggy and Scooby, who were looking decidedly mutinous.

"Are you eating here?"

They shook their heads, looking sour. Then Shaggy leaned in to talk to her.

"Like, you don't think you could give us some menus, do you?"

The waitress blinked at the obvious secrecy and nodded mutely, walking away to the swinging door leading to the kitchen.

Daphne glanced over as the waitress entered the swinging doors, looking baffled, but she didn't see where she came from.

"Maybe Emily is in on something, but I don't see what. We need more clues, so we need to go find them, at the hotel."

Velma nodded, swallowing a mouthful of beans.

"As soon as we get back, we'll go find some clues. If only the guys hadn't tried to clean out the cafeteria completely and succeeded… Hey, um, guys?"

She pointed to the young waitress, who was balancing several plates in her hands, and walking over to the window table where Shaggy and Scooby were sitting with another waitress, also carrying a month's worth of dinners for a normal person, but a single meal for Shaggy or Scooby…

Velma groaned out loud as the pair started to chow down on the food, without a moment's inhibition. The waitresses watched for a minute, unbelieving expressions on their faces as they watched, but they were both pushed aside by the rest of the gang, who looked furious.

"GUYS!" Daphne yelled. "WHO PROMISED THEY WEREN'T GOING TO EAT ANYTHING IF THEY WEREN'T LEFT IN THE HOTEL WITH THE PHANTOM?"

Shaggy and Scooby shrunk down in their seats as she yelled, until only the tops of their heads were visible above the piles of plates. Fred and Velma stood by, both silent, trying to muffle laughter at Daphne but both annoyed that there were going to be yet more expenses on the gang's credit card bill again, thanks to the gang's pair of bottomless stomachs.


	5. Chapter 5

An hour later and Shaggy and Scooby were still in disgrace at the hotel, often being shot a malevolent look by Daphne or a slightly accusing look from the other two. Shaggy was beginning to regret his jumbo meal… almost.

"Like, that shepherd's pie was so good, Scoob… Like, I wonder how much it cost? Daphne is pretty angry… Maybe we should only have had a couple of pizzas?"

Daphne growled from the other side of the curtain and Shaggy and Scooby cowered.

Fred, trying to relax on his bed and keep out of the argument by doing so, rolled his eyes behind a book. He didn't really blame the guys, but that was about another two hundred dollars down the drain thanks to them.

Velma looked out of the window towards the park itself, watching as a few more cars went up and down the huge hills of the main attraction, _Megalomaniac_. She shuddered, causing her curlers to shake precariously on her head. Putting a hand up to rectify them, she caught sight of a large lorry backing onto the drive outside the hotel. She leaned out of the window slightly to get a better look.

Suddenly she heard a familiar voice.

"Which ones do I unload first?"

_Emily, _Velma thought, leaning out further. _That's Emily's voice!_

But there was something different about it; there was no expression in the voice, no meaning, just the words, delivered in a low monotony.

"The brown ones first," said a second voice, a male voice, quite high-pitched for a man but unmistakeably masculine.

Velma strained to hear the conversation, leaning further and further out of the window, until…

"AAGH!"

Suddenly she plunged down into a rhododendron bush, screaming all the way down; in a flash of orange and brown she was in the bush, gasping and pain spreading over her body. Doing a quick analysis she decided the pain was temporary, but the point was, had anyone seen her?

"Quiet," said the male voice and Velma froze. "There's someone there. Someone's looking."

Velma slowly moved her head to see the silhouette of Emily turn and look towards the hotel. Another silhouette was next to her, a man whom she guessed was about Fred's height, and easily as skinny as Shaggy. He had long, ash-blond hair, tied back in a thick ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was holding a large cardboard box, and had his finger to his lips, looking around, the ponytail swishing.

As quietly as she could, Velma crept out of the rhododendron bush and towards the main foyer. She had to tell the others about this.

Once she was in the foyer (which was deserted) she ran up the steps about three at a time, not pausing for breath until she got to the door of room 180.


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you sure you saw Emily, and not just someone who looked a bit like her?"

Daphne stuck a plaster onto a scratch on Velma's arm that the rhododendron bush had given her. Velma winced.

"Yes, I'm sure, Daph!"

Daphne sat back and took another plaster out of the first-aid box, looking thoughtful.

"And she sounded weird, like she was in some sort of trance or something?"

Velma nodded. On the other side of her, Fred paused in wrapping a bandage round a particularly nasty cut.

"Maybe she was hypnotised?"

Daphne made a slightly scornful noise.

"She wouldn't be able to do complex things like lifting and carrying if she was in a trance, Freddy! People who are in trances can't do that much."

Velma considered.

"If the hypnotist is good, then people can sometimes do more than you'd expect… But it's not the first thing I would suspect. Emily is probably acting out of choice, as hypnosis is a difficult skill to learn. But we can't rule it out."

Fred shrugged and carried on with the bandage.

Meanwhile, Shaggy and Scooby were positioned at the window, watching for any sign of the lorry. They had been silent, trying to help in any way they could to get back into Daphne's good books, but suddenly they both yelled and headed for their beds, on the other side of the curtain.

Fred jumped up and rushed to the window, then retreated from it a little himself. The others joined him.

Outside was a horrible, zombie-like creature, glowing white and scarlet in the faint light from the hotel, gruesome entrails hanging from its stomach and a heart beating in full sight of the viewer. The ghost started walking, a loping, horror-film style saunter, towards the foyer of the hotel, the entrails swinging and the heart beating steadily.

The gang retreated into the room and Daphne dove for her bed, running under the covers just as Shaggy and Scooby had done the night before. Fred and Velma stayed at the window, although a little distance away, as the thing wove its way into the light of the huge stained-glass windows and through the door.

After a horrible silence, only broken by the occasional whimper from Shaggy and Scooby's beds, the door started rattling on its hinges, as though something was trying to get into the room. Fred and Velma flung themselves against the door, trying to stop whatever it was, and after a minute Daphne joined them, pushing a chair against the door for good measure.

The battle lasted for a few minutes, but eventually the gang were forced backwards by the ghost, and in it came, glowing entrails leaking scarlet liquid onto the floor, its emaciated skin half falling off. Fred grabbed one arm and tried to force the creature out, but the other hand swung round and grabbed his wrist, twisting it harshly until he was forced to let go. Then it pushed him to the floor and advanced on the others.

Daphne suddenly dove for her bag and pulled something out, a large I-mean-business style hairdryer. She put it on full power and directed it at the ghost, which backed away a little from the fierce heat of the huge appliance.

The thing turned and fled from the room, the entrails swinging more than ever and the heart still beating disgustingly but running away from room 180.

There was silence for a while in the room, except for the people in it breathing hard after the fight. Velma and Daphne were still standing by Daphne's bed, with the hairdryer still in Daphne's hands, though no longer on; Fred was lying on the floor, nursing his wrist, and Shaggy and Scooby were cowering in their beds, only Scooby's tail visible from under the covers, whimpering quietly.

Eventually, Shaggy stuck his head out from under the covers.

"Like, I guess that was the g-g-g-ghost…"

Daphne walked over and pulled Fred up, examining his wrist as she did so. Her face was pale under her blusher, but flushed with success.

"How's your wrist?"

"It's fine," he replied, pulling it away from her and wincing. Daphne shook her head, looking at the door. Shaggy was still staring, his eyes slightly glassy.

"It was… It had its guts hanging out…"

Shaggy could only whimper the sentence. Daphne gave him a slightly scornful look and looked over to the scarlet liquid on the floor that the ghost had dripped everywhere. Velma knelt down and examined it.

"This isn't real blood. It would have started to coagulate by now."

She walked over to her bag and pulled out a testing kit. Daphne gave her a sideways look and she blushed a little.

"I was hoping to use it at the science museum…"

Velma put a swab on the "blood" and put the soaked swab into a tube, then pressed a button on the tube. A red light flashed.

"This tests substances to see if they are real blood," Velma said, putting the gadget on the table. It whirred, then the red light started flashing. "And the machine says it isn't blood. That ghost is not for real."

Fred looked confused, now holding his wrist in his other hand.

"But why? Is there something here that someone else wants, or what? Or is this some kind of cheap publicity stunt?"

Daphne shook her head.

"I'm with Freddy, this doesn't make any sense. A fake ghost haunting a hotel, just for the fun of it? In our experience, ghosts always have a motive."

Velma nodded.

"We can find out the motive tomorrow, and have a word with Emily. Why is she haunting her own hotel? At least, if it was her in that suit."

Fred considered.

"Maybe it's some kind of revenge or something? Someone did her wrong, and somehow by doing this she gets even with them? We've had this before; some people will do anything to get even with someone who they think has wronged them in some way."

Velma nodded.

"I say we need more proof for this. Let's go and get some sleep, and we can carry on with this case in the morning. Plus, are we getting paid for this? We need some form of payment; maybe we could go to the hotel management."

The others agreed, and everyone headed off to bed.


	7. Chapter 7

As Scooby and Shaggy cleaned out the breakfast buffet, the rest of the gang went to the hotel manager, Mr Roach.

"I was going to leave it to the police, but your reputation is pretty good," he commented, looking round at the teenagers clustered around his desk. Although his surname was a bit buggy, Mr Roach had a kindly face and was quite easy-going.

"The police so far have drawn a blank, but I don't think there's any case you haven't been able to solve yet. Shall we say… three thousand dollars if you can solve this? You'll be saving the hotel countless times that in lost revenue if you solve this, and the police are no help at all. So, is it a deal?"

Fred nodded and the two shook hands on the deal. Unnoticed by Mr Roach, Fred winced as the manager shook his hand; his wrist was still a little sore from the night before.

"OK, now that that's settled, we can go find some clues," Velma said, smiling. Fred immediately shot her a look that told me he was clearly not amused; he didn't say anything, but in his eyes was "Hey, that's my line!"

A/N: I know, this is hardly a chapter at all. Just keep reading, and don't forget to review when you're finished. Jazzola


	8. Chapter 8

Daphne decided the gang should mix the teams up for once.

"I've got an idea. Why don't we swap Scooby and Velma? That way, each team has one or more brave person, and one chicken."

"Like, very funny!" Shaggy said, annoyed.

"Reah, rery runny!"

Fred shrugged.

"I guess that would work. OK, come on."

He started walking towards one staircase, and Daphne motioned for Scooby to follow and walked after him. Shaggy turned to Velma.

"Like, why do me and Scooby have to be split up?"

Velma smiled.

"It might be good for you chickens to spend some time away from your coop-mates!"

"Like, again, very funny, Velma!"

Velma laughed and turned towards the opposite staircase, the one that led up instead of down.

"I guess that leaves us with the first floor, Shaggy, seeing as they've gone down to the basement. It's a change for you, surely?"

This time Shaggy laughed along with Velma, and they walked off up the stairs.

A/N: Short short short… I'm sorry! Just bear with me! Jazzola


	9. Chapter 9

"Daph, over here."

Fred spoke in a whisper, and Daphne only caught her name over a noise that had been puzzling all of them.

"Sorry?"

"Over here!"

"Oh… Come on, Scooby."

The pair walked over to where Fred was standing, on a narrow ledge in the wall. He motioned for them to be careful, and once they were on the ledge pointed to a large machine below them, which was whirring and clanking and clearly the source of the odd noise they had been hearing.

"What's that?" Daphne whispered, looking down. Fred shrugged and Scooby edged nearer to them, pressing a little on Fred's legs.

"Scooby! Watch it!"

"Ruh?"

"You'll push me off the ledge!"

Scooby drew back, but the threesome had paid the price for the small amount of speech; someone down below had heard them. They saw him turn and look up towards the ledge, and the weak sunlight filtering through the grimy windows lit his features up. Daphne caught her breath; he was exactly like the man Velma had described, very thin, about Fred's height, with long blond hair and an almost emaciated look to his body, as though he was some sort of vampire. His skin was surprisingly dark; it looked as though he had been working out a little, as when he moved wannabe muscles strained against the thin t-shirt he was wearing.

"Did you hear something, Emily?"

"_Emily?_" Daphne hissed, leaning down further and holding onto Fred for support.

Emily, dressed in her working clothes but now a little grease-stained, stopped lifting a box and looked around with strangely blank eyes.

"No."

She didn't say a name, and Daphne leaned a little further to try and find out more, see what they were doing.

"It looks like they're moving some boxes out of that truck!" she hissed up to the others, watching eagerly but clinging to Fred; if it hadn't been for him holding her up, she would already have overbalanced and fallen to probably a concrete death below.

"Be careful, Daphne!" he whispered, grasping her arm harder. She nodded up to him and lowered herself a little further.

Suddenly she overbalanced, and with a shriek she lost her footing and was suspended above the scene below by her arm. Above her, Scooby barked in shock and Fred gasped.

"What's happening?" yelled the man below.

"I don't know," Emily replied, looking up. She caught sight of Daphne and pointed to her.

"Look, there is a girl there!"

The man made as if to chase the three, and Fred hurriedly started pulling Daphne back to safety as Scooby ran off.

"Scooby, come back!" Fred yelled as Scooby ran straight at the door leading to the room.

Scooby wrenched it open… and inside was the ghost.

"RIKES!"

Scooby screamed in the opposite direction, his paws going so fast they were brown blurs under his body. The thing ran after him and Daphne pulled Fred into a crevice to get away from it.

Scooby ran helter-skelter away from the thing, and Daphne and Fred exchanged looks and ran after the two.


	10. Chapter 10

Velma stood in the foyer of the hotel and surveyed it from her good viewpoint. Emily was nowhere to be seen, but she didn't really think that was a big thing. Emily might have just gone for a lunch break or something. It wasn't as if the hotel was full of guests.

"Like, Velms, over here!"

Velma walked over to where Shaggy was standing and saw that he was pointing at a grubby fabric-covered lever on the wall.

"Good going, Shaggy!"

Velma pushed the lever down and the wall seemed to open up in front of them.

"A secret passage; generally they're mines of clues! Come on then, Shaggy, let's go down."

Shaggy groaned.

"Like, ladies first, Velma…"

Velma sighed and stepped in. The next thing Shaggy heard was a loud screech of "AAGH!" and a thump of a body hitting a floor.

"Like, Velms, are you OK?" Shaggy called, leaning into the hole but careful not to lose his balance. He couldn't see much further than the tip of his nose, as the room was in pitch black and there wasn't much light in this corner of the foyer to get into the room from the opening.

A small groan came from the room.

"Next time you tell me "ladies first", you are _definitely _going first, heedless of whether you're male or female!"

Shaggy attempted a grin and lowered himself in, feeling for a ladder. His fingers brushed one and he shifted gradually onto it.

Velma, having picked herself up and checked for any more cuts and bruises beside those the rhododendron bush had given her, was looking round the room. It was dark enough for a grave and there were no lights in the room, but she could still feel; if anything, the pitch dark only enhanced her sense of touch. Her fingers found several objects, one feeling like a smooth metal surface and another feeling like Velcro. She carried on and her fingers brushed fabric- warm fabric- a person!

"Who's that?" Velma gasped, fear rising in her like vomit.

"Like, it's me!"

"Oh, Shaggy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Like, hold on, I've got a flashlight somewhere in here…"

Velma heard him rummaging in his backpack and eventually pulling out a flashlight.

"Like, good call with the flashlight, right?"

"Right," Velma laughed. "Come on then, I want to see what's down here apart from you and me."

The room was suddenly bathed in light and both blinked in the sudden light. Shaggy knelt on the floor and scraped something up.

"Like, what's this?"

Velma knelt down and examined it as well.

"It's industrial strength adhesive. What's it doing here? It's not the sort of thing most people can afford to just leave lying around, especially this sort. This stuff is so strong they use it for parts of ferries and yachts!"

"Like, wow!" Shaggy murmured, and Velma turned, confused. Shaggy wasn't looking at her, though; he was stroking something on the wall.

"Velms, take a look at this!"

Velma walked over. On the wall was a replica of a human heart, and next to it was a small wall diagram showing a cross-section. The model was a little oil-stained and grubby, as though it had been touched by oily hands and used quite a lot for some purpose.

Velma mused over them, and an image crept unbidden into her head; a picture of a heart beating outside a rotted body, one arm casting Fred aside and the rest of the thing advancing on her and Daphne…

Velma pushed the picture out of her head and looked around at the other diagrams and posters around the small room. Diagrams of the human anatomy, but none of the outside of the body; they were all of the internal organs of a human. Most were accompanied by a small model of the organ, but the heart was by far the biggest and the most informative.

"Like, why would someone be keeping these here?" Shaggy mused, looking round at the things. "These things look like something from a school biology lab!"

He glanced over at Velma, who mused over his comment.

"I think these are that sort of thing…"

She started looking round the room again, and suddenly grasped a doorknob.

"Shaggy, I think there's another passage of some sort! Come on, let's have a look, there might be more clues down there."

Shaggy looked reluctant, but walked over and looked in.

Velma grinned. "After last time, you go in first!"

Shaggy groaned in defeat and lowered himself into the passage, shining the flashlight around and clutching the wall with his spare hand. When he hadn't fallen or strangely disappeared, Velma judged that it was safe to go in after him and walked in.

After a few minutes, they came to another door, and a strange noise came from the other side of it.

"RIKES!"

Then the sound of claws skidding on wooden floors and pounding away from someone or something.

"Like, Scooby!" Shaggy gasped, flinging open the door.

Scooby saw him at the last minute, and threw himself into the passage, which Shaggy slammed shut just as the creature drew level with the doorframe. Ignoring the thing's yells of outrage as best they could, the threesome made their way back up the passageway, back into the room with the organ models and the ladder that Velma had failed to use, with painful consequences.

Eventually, they found Fred and Daphne, who had been wandering around the hotel looking for them, in true Mystery Inc. style: they ran into them as they turned a corner.

Several "OOF!"s came from the various members of the gang as they turned into a tangled pile of arms, legs and heads, but they were pleased to see each other.

"Did you find anything?" was Fred's first question after Daphne had clambered off his back, apologising.

"Like, you bet we did!" Shaggy said proudly. Velma got the distinct impression that he was still trying to make up for his glutton raid on the restaurant the day before, as he smiled at Daphne as he said it. Daphne rolled her eyes at him, but didn't seem that annoyed with him any more, and her face brightened at the aspect of a new clue.

"All right! Where is it?"

Shaggy glanced nervously down the hallway from which he, Scooby and Velma had rocketed.

"Like, is the ghost, sorry, coast, clear?"

Fred and Velma grinned at the familiar catchphrase, although Shaggy hadn't meant to use it and had just scared himself more.

"Yes, the ghost is clear!" Velma whispered, teasing him, and Shaggy gulped and started walking with the others.


	11. Chapter 11

"Down here!"

Fred lowered himself down first and whistled as his flashlight lit up the various anatomical models.

"This stuff looks like really high-tech gear! All these diagrams are really extensive, the sort you get for two or three hundred dollars!"

Velma looked thoughtful.

"In other words, the sort of stuff only biology teachers really bother with?"

Fred nodded and ran a finger over the heart model.

"Wonder why this guy paid so much attention to the heart…"

His words struck a chord in Velma's brain, and from the way his words tailed off, Velma was pretty sure that Fred was having the same thoughts as she was. Shaggy and Scooby exchanged looks and carried on examining the anatomical models and the huge posters.

"Like, why do they do that?" Shaggy muttered, running his finger over a model's small intestine. "Freddy and Velma solve the mystery before anyone else, and they won't tell us who it is!"

Velma laughed, overhearing Shaggy's mutters. Shaggy flushed.

"But then we'd have to admit when we're wrong, Shaggy! Elementary, my dear Rogers!"

Fred, twigging about the conversation, laughed as well.

"We would tell you, but it wouldn't be such a cliff-hanger for you guys if we did!"

Shaggy tried to scowl at him, but ended up laughing as well.

A/N: I'm sorry, but these were meant to be published on my site as one story on a page and not chapters, so they are quite short… Just carry on! Jazzola


	12. Chapter 12

Later, at dinner, Shaggy and Scooby were demolishing the canteen as usual and had allowed the rest of the gang to get dinner before them so they could avoid the calamity of going to a restaurant.

Fred and Velma were swapping theories in low voices, and Daphne was toying with her salad, listening to the conversation.

"They could be hiding something," Fred pointed out, winding some spaghetti round his fork. Velma nodded; that was a possibility.

"But what? What would they want to hide in a hotel? And I'm beginning to think you were right about the hypnosis thing, I don't think Emily is herself when she's doing whatever she was doing down in that room you described."

Velma pulled out her laptop and started typing. Eventually she gave a small cry of triumph and pushed the laptop over so that the others could see.

"That's from a nearby high school, and look at the pupil report for Emily!"

A blonde-haired teenage girl smiled out of a school photograph, unmistakeably Emily but much younger than she was now.

"Hey! She got a special grade in Engineering, specifically, Animatronics!"

"Exactly my thoughts!"

Velma smiled back at the pretty teenage girl who beamed out of the computer screen.

"Well, Emily, I think we can wrap this mystery up with just a little help from you."

A/N: Short. Argh… :L Jazzola


	13. Chapter 13

Shaggy groaned and stretched a little, hitting Fred in the mouth as he did so.

"Ow!" Fred muttered, his words muffled as he put a hand up to his mouth.

"Oops, like, sorry, Freddy!"

Fred shook his head, checking for blood on his hand. There wasn't any, so he ignored the pain and carried on watching from behind the small reception counter that had been abandoned in the corner of the hotel after the inside was smashed by a rowdy mob of kids staying at the hotel. There wasn't much space behind the counter, so the gang were squashed more tightly than sardines and some members weren't too happy about it.

"Daphne, move over a bit!"

"I would if Fred would!" Daphne moaned, shifting a little. Fred pushed back as his leg was pushed uncomfortably into a sharp piece of metal from the counter.

"Daph, move back!"

"I can't, Velma's in the way!"

"Well, someone move, please!"

"Someone needs to go back to the hotel room or something," Velma complained as she was pushed into the wall. Her next words were muffled as her mouth was squashed against it. "There just isn't enough room here…"

The others agreed quickly and Shaggy and Scooby were dispatched back to room 180.

"But if we're not back in about two more hours, come looking for us, OK? And if the cell phone rings, you come as well," Daphne instructed as Shaggy stood up and extracted his leg from under Velma.

"Like, yeah, yeah, we know the terms and conditions," Shaggy sighed, pulling his arm out from under Fred and yanking Scooby out of the pile as well.

They were halfway to the stairs when Shaggy turned and called back to the gang.

"Like, what if we find him in the room or on the way there?"

"Run back here," Fred answered.

Shaggy nodded, although he didn't look entirely encouraged, and the pair set off together.

They had barely just gotten out of sight of the foyer when Emily walked in and looked round. To her, the area was deserted, and she nodded and turned to a small control panel hidden behind the desk she normally sat at.

Emily reached out and flicked a switch, and a section of wall opened and out came the creature, heart beating, insides flopping around its feet and skin rancid-looking and ready to drop off.

Emily looked straight at the thing and pressed another button. The creature turned and headed up the stairs.

"It's heading towards our room!" Fred hissed, watching from a gap in the counter. Daphne shifted a little to see out a hole near her head.

"After Shaggy and Scooby! But Emily didn't see them…"

Velma shook her head.

"Emily didn't need to. Ignore the ghost; it's not a big thing right now, right, Fred?"

He nodded his agreement and Daphne sighed.

"Would it kill you two to clue me in?"

Velma giggled. "Like I said to Shaggy and Scooby, if we told you our suspicions, we'd have to admit when we're wrong! This time it would be elementary, my dear Blake!"

Fred smiled, but his focus was on Emily. She pressed another button on the control panel, and walked out from the counter and down towards the panel from which the thing had come.

"OK, now we go after her!"

The three extracted themselves from the tight little space and headed down towards the panel Emily had gone into.

Up in room 180, Shaggy and Scooby had barricaded the door with most of the furniture in it, and were leaning against it for good measure, panting after the quick exercise.

"Like, I can't see that thing getting through here," Shaggy panted, patting Scooby on the head. Scooby nodded, also panting.

"Ri rink rit ridn't ree rus."

"Like, unless it's a real ghost…"

The two glanced at each other again, and then walked over to the beds they had slept and hidden in the night before and got in under the covers.

"Like, if we're quiet, it'll never know we're here," Shaggy hissed, covering his head with the blankets. Scooby reached out and tucked his tail in as well, whining a little and glancing towards the furniture-barricaded door, which was almost hidden under the pile he and Shaggy had made.

"Stop that whining, like, d'you want him to find us?" Shaggy hissed, a little irritated but more scared than anything.

The two stayed silent, their hearts hammering, listening for any sign of life… or death.


	14. Chapter 14

The passageway Emily had slipped into was only big enough for one to go through at a time, so Fred walked at the head of the little procession, Daphne behind him and Velma bringing up the rear.

The passageway was slippery with some sort of grease; Velma guessed it was quite a way underground, and that there was slime under their feet. Daphne made a disgusted face, but Fred motioned for them to press on and ignore the slime. Each member slipped at some point; nearing the end Velma fell head-first into Daphne, who fell into Fred, more like dominoes than anything else.

The gang picked themselves up, spluttering, and heard a voice from the end of the passage.

"You have the other monster keeping our friends busy, I hope?"

"Yes," came Emily's soft voice, so unlike her usual bright tones. Fred motioned for the gang to go further in, and they crept up to a grate, in full sight of Emily, but she appeared not to notice them. The man was there too; his greasy blond ponytail swung as he took something from the same lorry they had seen before and handed it to her.

"If you see those kids, Emily, you tell me and I'll sort them out."

"Yes," Emily said again, and Velma realised; part of the hypnosis was that, in case anyone was listening, Emily wouldn't repeat the man's name, simply say "yes" or "no".

"Good. Then we can carry on in peace."

The man started taking more boxes from the lorry and handing them down to Emily, who put them in the boot and back seats of a dusty old Toyota estate with two broken windows; it looked suspiciously like it had been stolen. Velma scribbled the registration plate on the back of her hand in case it should come in useful.

After ten minutes, Fred slipped the cell phone out of his pocket and called Shaggy and Scooby. The idea was that they wouldn't answer the phone, but Shaggy suddenly said, "Like, hello?" loudly, if tremulously.

"Oh no!" Velma hissed, as the man turned, the ponytail swinging and hitting Emily on the side of the face. She didn't seem to notice.

"We've got company," the man growled, looking round the room. He suddenly spotted the hem of Daphne's skirt hanging down from the grate, and advanced on it.

"Emily, please bring in our friend…"

"Yes," Emily said, in the same blank tones, and she walked over to the other side of the room and out of sight.

"Come out, come out," the man called, in singsong tones. "I promise I won't hurt you… much."

He allowed himself a grin.

"Come along, my pretty… You can't hide for ever… Although you tried…"

He seized the hem of Daphne's skirt and pulled. With a squeal, Daphne was pulled against the grate by her dress, and the man looked straight at her, into her eyes.

"Well, well, well… Look who we have here."

The man pulled a penknife out of his pocket and brandished it in front of Daphne's face.

"Get away from her!" Fred yelled, unable to restrain himself any more. He pushed his way to the front of the tunnel and pushed the grate back, hitting the man in the face. He dropped the penknife, and swore as Fred bore down on him.

Daphne flicked her foot and sent the penknife a way away from the man's scrabbling fingers as it spun in the grime of the floor.

"Oops," Daphne said sweetly, smiling serenely into the man's face. "Clumsy me."

"Like, guys, what's going on?" asked a voice from the cell phone.

"You may as well ask," sneered the man, and he tried to pull himself out of Fred's grasp, but Fred held on grimly.

"Shaggy, come down here, the panel in the reception, we jammed it open," Velma said, and she shut the cell phone with a triumphant smile.

"Well, that was easier than usual," Daphne said, trying and failing to hide a smug grin.

Suddenly, the man twisted his arm and Fred cried out with pain; the man had twisted his hurt wrist hard. Taking advantage of Fred's injury, the man pulled one arm out of his grasp and snatched the penknife up again.

Just as he did, there was a loud noise from the grate, magnified by the narrow tunnel and the volume of the noise.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH-EEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Scooby!" Velma gasped, turning sharply towards the grate just as the dog himself and Shaggy came zooming out of the grate and flew into the man, who dropped the penknife again and was pinned under the pair.

"Like, sorry!" Shaggy gasped, as the rest of the gang hurried towards them.

"Don't be sorry, Shag, you saved us!" Daphne said brightly, motioning to the penknife, which Fred had now picked up and was folding over until the blade was inside the handle.

"Yeah, she's right," he said, stowing it in his pocket and walking forwards.

"Who are you?"

The man growled, flicking hair out of his horsey face.

"Well, that would be telling now, wouldn't it?"

"I think I know," Velma said, holding up a printed-off "wanted" poster. She held it up against the man's face and the others gasped; the man who now snarled at them on the floor was exactly like the man who scowled out of the picture.

"Alec Sanchez," Velma pronounced, rolling the paper up and putting it back in her pocket. "Wanted for several counts of robbery. I believe he was using the ghost, which is an animatronic, as a diversion so people wouldn't find out that he was hiding stolen goods in the hotel.

"Sanchez was killing several birds with one stone with this plan: he was getting a hideout for stolen goods, a place where nobody would look, and he was getting revenge on the Devil's Wheels park, plus revenge on the manager, Mr Roach, with whom he has a long-standing feud. He wanted revenge on the park because it's built on land bought from his family, in his opinion, unlawfully- I found that out on the Net as well- and it even had a cherry on top- Emily."

"Like, what about her?"

"Emily has a good qualification in advanced animatronics, which was just what Sanchez needed. He used hypnosis on Emily, and since then she built that animatronic ghost for him to scare away all the guests at the hotel, in case they tried to find out what was going on or saw the proceedings like I did."

"That's why in the model room, he had all those models of organs and such," Fred added, smiling slightly. "He used them to make the animatronic ghost, which is very realistic. He paid special attention to the heart because that needed to pump to be believable- that was a particularly complex part."

Velma smiled.

"Exactly, Freddy. Now, Mr Sanchez, if you could lift the hypnosis on Emily, we would be very thankful, before the cops get here."

Alec growled again.

"No."

Velma folded her arms.

"I really think it's in your best interests to lift the hypnosis, Mr Sanchez, or Scooby will be all too willing to persuade you."

Scooby, twigging what she was talking about, growled at Alec, who cowered a little as Scooby showed his long, sharp, pearly teeth, which were centimetres away from his face.

"Oh, fine…"

He pulled a mouth-organ from his pocket and played a note. Emily, who had been returning to the room with the ghost, suddenly fell to the floor. She sat up abruptly, spitting hair out of her mouth and looking round wildly.

"What's going on?"

"We'll explain later, Emily," Velma said, walking over to the ghost. "Now, where's the off switch, Emily?"

Emily looked confused, but Mr Sanchez grinned evilly, his teeth glinting.

"There is no off switch, stupid girl."

Velma took a step back from the creature, which advanced on her. But Fred walked forwards and pulled at the thing's rotted hair, which came off- as did its face and some of its shoulders. In their place was a very ordinary-looking young man, who sighed and started taking off the rest of the suit.

"Mr Sanchez hired an actor to make that part more realistic," Fred said, smiling as he held up the mask.

Velma looked at him in surprise. "How did you know that?"

Next to Daphne, Shaggy had a mock fainting fit. "Like, you didn't know? Hey, like, that's a first, Scoob! She didn't know! She didn't know!"

"Ha ha," Velma sighed, looking over at them. "Seriously, how did you work that out, Freddy?"

Fred smiled and pointed at the head. There was a label sticking out of it.

"You need to be more careful with your costumes in future," he laughed, pointing to the label. "That was sticking out in full view from the side. It might ruin your act if people spot the label- it certainly did here."

The rest of the gang laughed and even the actor's mouth twitched.

"Scooby-dooby-doo!"


	15. Chapter 15

"This is brilliant!" Daphne breathed, looking out on the rollercoaster park from the bright arch marking the entrance.

A couple of days later and the gang stood at the entrance to the Devil's Wheels rollercoaster park, having solved the mystery and gotten the funds they needed.

Alex Sanchez was sent to prison for several years for burglary and numerous other crimes, some linked to his little plot at the hotel but a surprising amount not linked to it. It would appear that crime was one habit Sanchez couldn't break easily. The actor who had dressed up as the ghost was let off with a warning from the police- he had only done it for the money, and hadn't done that much anyway; his employ had only lasted two weeks. Emily was so grateful to the gang that she had also paid them for the mystery- another two hundred dollars on top of the original reward of three thousand dollars from Mr Roach and the hotel management. They had tried to decline, but she had insisted, saying that they had saved her as much as they had saved the hotel management.

"I could have lost everything to that plot," she told the gang, her eyes shining. "You saved me!"

She also added that she was going to be more careful about giving out personal information on the Net in future.

Daphne grabbed Fred's hand and he winced, but allowed her to pull him towards a large rollercoaster called "Screamer". Velma smiled after him and mouthed, "Have a good time!" Fred grimaced at her and she laughed as they joined the queue.

Shaggy and Scooby looked around for a signpost, and as soon as they saw the words "Food Court" on a signpost they were off towards it. Velma glanced after them and sighed inwardly, but couldn't prevent a smile. _Some things never change!_

This was the satisfaction for her; the calm after the mystery and the knowledge that they had helped people in solving this mystery. Alec Sanchez was in prison, the ghost plot was over, and the Alohomora was once again full, as it should be, of people visiting the up-and-coming rollercoaster park. Emily was no longer hypnotised for several hours a day, helping with Sanchez's plot; she had been very confused about the oil stains on her clothes that she didn't remember getting, and the missing parts from her toolbox.

There was a sign next to the food court sign that caught her eye: a sign to the new Science Globe attraction. She started walking towards the large glass globe she could see on the other side of the park, smiling.

She remembered Fred's words at the beginning of the mystery, when he had been a little reluctant, maybe, to accept this new case: _"I guess it would be good, if we had a case now, but I sort of wanted a peaceful, spook-free vacation for once." _She smiled again.

_Well, here we are, _said a voice in her head. _He got his wish. It took a while, but we now have two weeks of ghost-free vacation time!_

A yell from the direction of the food court made her turn sharply. She had guessed what had caused the disturbance, and her guess was right; she was nearly knocked over as Shaggy and Scooby sprinted by her, chased by a chubby man in a stained stripy apron.

"You've ruined us! You are banned from the food court! I never want to see you again!"

The chef carried on running after the pair, and Velma laughed with most of the crowd as she saw the figures of a lanky boy and his dog running from the irate chef.

_Well, _she thought. _They did it again!_

And as she laughed, a yell came from the lanky boy's direction.

"Run, Scooby! Like, before it was a ghost, now it's a chef, and, like, I'm not sure which one's worse!"

THE END


End file.
